Dear Neighbor,

First, let me apologize in advance for not knowing everyone's names. Happy New Year.

I'm writing to inform you, in case you didn't know, and you probably didn't, that not only has your Homeowner's Association (HOA) stolen my car right out of my driveway, on July 29, but the property management company and their lawyers are now using your HOA as a vehicle to sue (read: rob) me for over $4,300 in addition, all in your name.

This is for a sixteen year old car which was worth a third that much. Not to mention that I was going to use it specifically to drive to the historic eclipse up in Wyoming three weeks later.

The pretense for this theft was that the car was "abandoned," because I had not registered it while getting around soley by bicycle the last four years. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 46, 47, 48, 49 months parked in the driveway was evidently acceptable, but suddenly 50 months was one too many.

My plans to get the car registered to take it to the eclipse fell on predictably deaf ears. The racket seems to be to cause homeowners trouble, the more trouble the more they make.

Perhaps you've heard of the issue of "eminent domain", in which the government asserts its right to take whatever it wants from anybody anytime. ("If the King needs it, you don't.") It's so important it's covered in the 5th Amendment of the Bill of Rights, which requires due process and just compensation for their "taking". They can't just abscond with something, much less also make the victim of their larceny pay them for the 'privilege'. But as a member of the Homeowner's Association you are now party to exactly this kind of double thievery.

If your HOA continues on its current path of pathological persecution, it and its members do so knowing the damage it is causing. It does so with malice aforethought, personally and collectively perpetrating a significant amount of detriment to me and others.

As of the date of this letter, you may claim that you did not know what you were party to or the damage it was causing. Now, should this continue, as a post recipient to my letter, I am informing you, collectively and individually, that you do so with knowledge. You do not have the right to claim "I didn't know." Your HOA's actions are both criminal and civil. Motor vehicle theft is a felony.

Besides Ward Lucas's book -- he's a well known and highly decorated news reporter from Denver's TV -- there's also the "web booklet" at TheHOAprimer.org (65 pages, in 20 short sections), should you want to inform yourself more fully about these issues which affect us all. The idea of publicly notifying other homeowners of the Board's questionable activities is a suggestion from Section #11 - What to Do.

As soon as my car is returned and the legal harassment stops I'm out of this wretched nightmare in hell of vile %@#*$!& behaving like insane children. Nobody needs this sort of trouble, and especially not from people who are supposed to be working for us, not manufacturing reasons for robbing us left and right..

Best Wishes for a Happy New Year